Catholic News

  • Pope Francis sketches vision for future of moral theology (CWN)
    On March 23, Pope Francis received participants in a conference organized by the Alphonsian Academy (Alphonsianum), two months after he raised the institute of moral theology to the dignity of a pontifical institute.
  • Milwaukee priest loses confession faculties after confession column (Pillar)
    Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee announced that he has “immediately removed the canonical faculties of Father [James] Connell to validly celebrate the Sacrament of Confession and to offer absolution, here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and thereby also in the Catholic Church around the world.” The 80-year-old priest has lent his support to legal efforts against the seal of confession. (See Jeff Mirus’ commentary.)
  • Confession is 'encounter of love' that fights evil, Pope tells priests (CNS)
    On March 23, Pope Francis received participants in the Apostolic Penitentiary’s 33rd annual course on the internal forum. “The Church’s evangelizing mission passes in large part through the rediscovery of the gift of confession, also in view of the approaching jubilee of 2025,” the Pope said, as he called on priests to schedule ample time to hear confessions.
  • World Council of Churches leader, Pope Francis propose 'summit' on Ukraine (World Council of Churches)
    350 Protestant and Orthodox communities are members of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland; on March 23, Pope Francis received Rev. Jerry Pillay, the South African Presbyterian pastor who serves as its general secretary. Pillay said after the meeting that Pope Francis backed a WCC proposal for a summit between Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Church leaders. It is not known whether the Orthodox leaders will agree to the meeting.
  • US bishops' doctrine committee warns against alkaline hydrolysis, human composting (USCCB)
    The statement on the proper disposition of bodily remains notes that the “burial [of the body] is considered by the Church to be the most appropriate way of manifesting reverence and respect for the body of the deceased” and that cremation is also permitted. The cremated remains should be “laid to rest in a sacred place” and not kept at home, scattered, shared among family members, or encased in mementos. Two newer methods, alkaline hydrolysis and human composting, are incompatible with Catholic teaching: they fail to give “due respect ... to the bodily remains of the deceased in a way that gives visible witness to our faith and hope in the resurrection of the body.” The US bishops’ doctrine committee is chaired by Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville (TX), whom Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, recently named to the seven-member preparatory commission for the Synod of Bishops in October.
  • Notre Dame basilica to reopen in December 2024 (Our Sunday Visitor)
    The cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris will is now scheduled to reopen on December 8, 2024: the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect for the restoration of the beloved basilica after a devastating fire in April 2019, announced the projected opening date as he met with workers who are completing the reconstruction of a new spire for the basilica. The spire is being assembled in Val de Briey, in eastern France, before being moved to Paris to be installed. Restoration workers had once hoped that the cathedral would be open for use in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris.
  • Pelosi, at Georgetown, dismisses archbishop's warnings (National Catholic Reporter)
    Speaking as an invited guest at Georgetown University, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed aside Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s
  • Pope Francis: a different vision of Church role in European project [News Analysis] (CWN)
    At a March 23 audience with delegates for the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Pope Francis welcomed a new president of the group, paid tribute to the outgoing president, and urged COMECE to serve the cause of unity and peace in Europe.
  • God is near, Pope reassures kin of victims of Polish mine accident (Vatican News)
    Meeting on March 24 with relatives of Polish miners who were killed in an accident last April, Pope Francis told them that questioning God can be a form of prayer. The Pontiff remarked that the silence of God “sometimes gives us anger,” and in that case, “anger too is prayer.” “In the darkness, the Lord is near,” the Pope assured the family members. “We do not know how, but He is near to us.”
  • Haitian priest released after kidnapping (Fides)
    Father Jean-Yves Medidor, who was kidnapped from his parish in Port-au-Prince on March 10, has been released, a spokesman for his Viatorian religious order has announced.
  • In Spain, seminary enrollments hit a new low (National Catholic Register)
    The number of men training for the priesthood in Spain has dropped below 1,000, for the first time since records of seminary enrollment were kept at the national level. The number of men entering seminary training also hit a low this year, at 172—as did the number of ordinations to the priesthood, at 97. There are 974 candidates for diocesan priesthood in Spain today.
  • Hungarian president confers state honor on Sostituto (Secretariat of State (Italian))
    On March 23, President Katalin Novák of Hungary conferred the Commander’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit upon Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Holy See’s Sostituto. Pope Francis is scheduled to make an apostolic journey to Hungary in April.
  • Vatican message for Ramadan focuses on fight against extremism (Vatican Press Office)
    In an annual message to the world’s Muslims, timed for the month of Ramadan, the Dicastery for Inter-Religious Dialogue concentrates on the need to combat “extremism, radicalism, polemics, disputes, and religiously motivated violence.” “The threats are fueled by a culture of hate,” the Vatican statement says. “We need, then, to find the most appropriate ways of countering and overcoming such a culture, enhancing instead, enhancing love and friendship, in particular between Muslims and Christians, due to the bonds that unite us.”
  • North Rhine-Westphalia's president discusses abuse scandal with Pope (Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (German))
    Pope Francis received Hendrik Wüst, the Minister-President of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (map), in a March 23 audience. According to a German public media report, Wüst expressed concern about the abuse scandal in the Cologne archdiocese and said that the Pope is “very, very moved” by the plight of abuse victims. “Pope Francis is an impressive personality,” added Wüst. “With his tireless effort, especially for the poor and weak, the Pope gives hope to many people worldwide.”
  • Archbishop Gomez to lead 6-mile Eucharistic procession through Los Angeles (CNA)
  • Renew consecration to the Immaculate Heart, Pope recommends (Vatican Press Office)
    Pope Francis has encouraged a renewal of the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, every year. At his Wednesday audience on March 22, the Pope recalled the feast day last year, “when in union with all the bishops of the world, the Church and humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, were consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” He suggested an annual renewal of the consecration by “every believer and community, especially prayer groups.”
  • Over 70 Christians killed in DR Congo in 2 weeks (International Christian Concern)
    In the war-torn eastern section of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (map), Islamist rebels killed 72 Christians in a two-week period, according to the report. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan earlier this year, but stayed in the nation’s capital, where he met with the war’s victims.
  • Greek Orthodox Church calls for 'international protection of holy sites' after Jerusalem attack (Our Sunday Visitor)
    Two Israeli settlers assaulted clerics and worshippers at the Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary in East Jerusalem.
  • Vatican cardinal: 'It is not mercy to lie about sin' (CWN)
    Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, the Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary since 2013, delivered an 11-page lecture to participants in the Penitentiary’s 33rd annual course on the internal forum.
  • House committee raps 'weaponization' of Justice Department (House Judiciary Committee)
    The Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives has issued a report criticizing the Biden administration for its aggressive campaign against parents who protested school-board decisions. A committee report found that “the Biden Administration misused federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources for political purposes,” that “there was no compelling nationwide law-enforcement justification” for a Justice Department directive that ordered the FBI to investigate protests against school-board decisions. In a related development, the Heritage Foundation has joined other pro-life groups in a lawsuit charging that the Justice Department has failed to comply with legal requests for documents related to a series of violent attacks on pregnancy-help centers.
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